Io Shirai to defend against Raquel Gonzalez on night one of NXT TakeOver

Originally published at Io Shirai to defend against Raquel Gonzalez on night one of NXT TakeOver

WWE has announced that the NXT Women’s Championship match between Io Shirai and Raquel Gonzalez will take place on the first night of NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver.

The match will air on the USA Network on Wednesday, April 7th on the first night of the two-night TakeOver special with the second half airing on Peacock and the WWE Network.

Shirai had held the Women’s Championship since last June defeating Charlotte Flair and Rhea Ripley in a triple threat match at NXT TakeOver: In Your House and recently defended the title against Toni Storm. The angle was set on television with Shirai approaching Gonzalez and stating she wanted her next.

Other matches announced for TakeOver include NXT Champion Finn Balor defending the title against Karrion Kross, and Jordan Devlin facing Santos Escobar to determine the Undisputed Cruiserweight Champion. Neither match has been assigned a night as of yet.

This will be a great card when everything gets announced.

I really hope they can work out a no commercial main event. Picture-in-picture is better than not, but I’d prefer this match uninterrupted. Put multiple commercial breaks in the Bronson Reed/LA Knight match. I’ll make that sacrifice, tough as it may be…